


The Quiet Ones

by squintly



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Experimentation, M/M, Mild torture, Minor Character Death, Possible Possession, Sleep Deprivation, Snoke is a dick, The Quiet Ones AU, horror movie au, mild dubcon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 02:37:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7248709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squintly/pseuds/squintly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>June, 1978. Oxford, England. </p>
<p>Professor Joseph Snoke launches an experiment seeking to prove the existence of telekinetic phenomenon. At the center of these experiments is Kylo Ren, a troubled young man searching for a cure. Caught in the middle, cameraman Hux must document the ever-escalating events - no matter how far they may go.</p>
<p>Killing a man is a wonderful way to make a ghost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Quiet Ones

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is heavily based off the movie The Quiet Ones. Fantastic watch if you're into horror movies, but (hopefully) not necessary to understand the fic.
> 
> Everyone in this is ten years younger than they are in The Force Awakens, with the exception of Mitaka because he would be an infant and I need him. Also I made him into a huge asshole. I'm sorry, Mitaka, I'm sure your lovely, for a space-Nazi.

**June, 1978.**

**Oxford, England.**

 

\---

 

"How many of you," Professor Snoke asked in his deep American growl, "believe in God?"

 

Most of the hands in the crowded classroom came up. Hux's was not among them. He turned in his seat, raising his camera to sweep across the full curves of tiered seating.

 

"How many believe in angels? Demons? Ghosts?" With each successive question, more hands dropped. "The Force?"

 

A ripple of awkward laughter swept across the classroom. When Hux turned the camera back to Snoke, there was something like a smile twisting the man's pale scarred face.

 

"Of course not. No-one believes in fairy tales." With difficulty, Snoke rose out of his wheelchair to flick the switch on the projector on the high table beside him. "This footage depicts the fifteenth birthday of one Kylo Ren. It has not been altered in any way."

 

Hux raised the camera to the lowered screen as a black-and-white image flickered to life. A boy sat at the head of a table laden with food and wrapped boxes. Dressed in an ill-fitting suit and a crooked birthday hat over his long shanks of black hair, his expression was sullen, dark. A vivid scar cut through his face from just above his left eyebrow to the right side of his jaw.

 

From out of frame came a woman's voice, thin and nervous like a smile stretched too far. "Blow out the candles!"

 

The boy's eyes flicked up to the lens. Something about him reminded Hux of a child soldier, hollow yet not quite empty. The candles on the plain white birthday cake fluttered, then went out.

 

"What—?" the woman began the moment before the cake exploded, splattering icing and shiny black filling over everything – except for the boy.

 

As the woman screamed, the film ended, bright light filling the screen before Snoke rose again and shut the projector off. For a moment, the classroom was silent.

 

"It's fake," said a young dark-haired man, half laughing. "Firecrackers in the cake. Kid probably thought it was funny."

 

"A distinct possibility," Snoke admitted, wheeling forward. "Where it not the dozens of incidents before and since."

 

"So he's a prankster," the man replied, gesturing to the screen. "That doesn't _prove_ anything."

 

"Come off it, Dameron," the sharp-featured brunette sitting next to him snapped. "If you're not going to listen to a guest lecture, why come?"

 

"This is Oxford, not Aleister Crowley's living room." The young man looked around the classroom before settling on the dark eye of Hux's camera. "This is ridiculous. The whole experiment is—"

 

Someone threw something. Dameron didn't quite bat it away fast enough and it bounced off his forehead. Laughter burst all around him along with a chorus of boos.

 

"Come on!" Dameron shouted over the din. "I'm just saying—"

 

"Get out," Snoke's tall blonde aide said, pointing towards the double doors at the top of the central aisle. "You're causing a disturbance."

 

" _I'm_ causing a disturbance?" Dameron protested, but picked up his backpack. "You people are insane."

 

After he had left, Snoke held up a pale papery hand to calm the din.

 

"My work does not require your protection. Soon it will speak for itself. Through experimentation, we will bring what we once naively called the supernatural under the yoke of science and master it. There are no mysteries that cannot be solved."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Did you enjoy my lecture?" Snoke asked as Phasma pushed him down the cobbled path, turning his face into the warm summer breeze.

 

"It was certainly lively," Hux replied diplomatically.

 

"I have little time for those who remain deliberately ignorant. Are you a religious man, Mister Hux?"

 

Hux shifted his grip on the bulky camera case. "My father was a devout Catholic."

 

"That does not answer my question," Snoke said with one of his twisted smiles. "Do you believe in God?"

 

Again, Hux shifted his grip. The case was very heavy. "I believe in what my eyes show me."

 

"Good," Snoke said. "Before this is done, they will show you more than you could possibly imagine. Then you and your camera will show the world."

 

Hux did not reply.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

The music blaring through the shutters of the Edwardian house was loud two houses away. Inside it was deafening. Hux pressed a palm to his ear.

 

"If I were your neighbours, I would gut you alive."

 

Phasma smiled thinly, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Before the myopic stare of the camera lens her shoulders rose and her fingers dug into her strong arms. "We've had plenty of threats. We're moving to the country soon. Save the police the trouble of knocking on our door."

 

Hux adjusted the focus. "How did you get involved in the experiment?"

 

She hesitated. "I… Volunteered. As a subject. Throughout my childhood, there were… occurrences. Fortunately or not, I'm sane, and Snoke already had Ren."

 

"Tell me about him."

 

Her lips narrowed into a thin line. "You'll see soon enough."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Utterly psychotic." Mitaka, Snoke's pasty dark-haired research assistant, grinned as he climbed the stairs, craning his head over his shoulder to stare into the lens. "Went through eleven foster homes in four years before Snoke found him. Doesn't remember a thing about his childhood. Total amnesia. Most fascinating case I've ever seen."

 

"Is he violent?" Hux asked, struggling to keep the camera level as they ascended.

 

"Depends on your definition. He's never seriously hurt anyone but himself, but give him a stick of furniture and you'll get back kindling. Never met anyone with such a grudge against chairs."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Through the slot cut into the door, the room was mostly dark, thin slats of dusty sunlight filtering in through the shutters. The music pounded so loud it vibrated in Hux's chest. Inside, a shadow moved rhythmically.

 

"Is he still awake?" Mitaka asked, fumbling with the keys. "It's very important that he be awake. He's not supposed to sleep for another six hours. Makes him more malleable for the experiments."

 

"He's awake," Hux replied, stepping back to allow Mitaka to unlock the door.

 

Against one wall was a bank of speakers, thrumming with sound. Along the other lay a bare mattress. In the center of the room was Ren.

 

In the film, he had been a weedy boy, bones growing much faster than the muscle covering them. That had since been rectified. As he pushed himself up on his thick arms and lowered himself back down, his broad shoulders rolled like churning water beneath his black undershirt. A drop of shining sweat dripped from his mess of black hair.

 

"Kylo?" Mitaka said in the slow gentle tones one would usually reserve for a dog or a particularly stupid child. "I've brought someone to see you."

 

If Ren heard over the music, he gave no sign, tucking one hand behind his back. On his wrist gleamed fresh scars in something approximating a pattern. Mitaka edged into the room, unlocked a small panel and shut off the music. As the silence slammed into them, Ren finally looked up, staring at Mitaka with flaring eyes. The scar crossing his face had turned white.

 

"This is Mister Hux," Mitaka said in the same condescending tone. "He's going to film the experiment, so we can help other people like you. Isn't that nice?"

 

Ren said nothing, looking back down and continuing his exercising. The camera raked over him, from his bare feet to his big hands, lingering on his narrow hips.

 

"Kylo?" Mitaka asked, crouching down. "Did you hear me?"

 

"Tell Snoke I'm ready," Ren said. His voice was surprisingly deep, like the purr of a black-maned lion.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"He likes you," Mitaka said over the renewed music as he re-locked the door.

 

"He didn't look at me," Hux replied, turning off the camera.

 

"That's how I know," Mitaka said with a smile. "He didn't try to scare you."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

 "Oh, I'm in it for the science," Mitaka said into the lens as Phasma arranged equipment around the tiny living room. "Can you imagine, being part of the team who _proved_ telekinesis exists? Watson and Crick, Curie, _Einstein_ , won't have anything on us. We're going to be famous."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Phasma guided Ren down the stairs as if he might tumble down them at any moment. His balance seemed fine, sure, his legs strong and steady. The camera followed him down, catching the way the light played in his hair. He glanced up, into the lens and through. Hux lowered the camera.

 

Mitaka hooked Ren up to a dozen different sensors, a metal ring wrapped around his head and wires taped to his wrists, his chest, his temples. Ren glanced around, into dark corners and across the ceiling, by all appearances bored out of his mind. According to the schedule Mitaka had shown Hux, Ren hadn't slept in three days. The sockets of his eyes looked bruised.

 

"I have a gift for you," Snoke said once all the wires were in place and the readings printing on their reels of narrow paper. He placed a small box on the table in front of Ren. "To help you find him."

 

"Him?" Hux asked Phasma quietly as Ren languorously popped the box open.

 

"'Ben'," Phasma murmured back. "The manifestation of Kylo's chaotic energy."

 

"Creative name," Hux muttered. Ren glanced up at him.

 

"It's a kyber crystal," Mitaka said, leaning over the table to be in frame. "They're supposed to help channel spirits."

 

Ren plucked it out of the box. "It's broken."

 

"Is it?" Snoke asked dryly.

 

Even from across the table, the flaw was obvious. The crystal was about the size of Hux's thumb and the crack ran through the whole of it, like a crimson lightning bolt frozen in bloody amber. Ren turned it in his hand, watching it spark in the artificial light. One of the machines beeped.

 

"Interesting," Mitaka said, looking over the looping read-out.

 

"They said I was broken," Ren said, staring into the crystal as if he were talking to it rather than them. "My foster family. Broken inside."

 

There was something fragile about his face, as if it wasn't flesh and blood but cracked porcelain. Hux shifted the camera on his shoulder.

 

"Most things are more beautiful that way."

 

The other three glanced at him, Mitaka and Phasma raising eyebrows while Snoke's misshapen eyes narrowed. Ren didn't look up, but the corner of his lips quirked.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

The country house squatted amongst a copse of ancient trees, half a ruin. Most of the windows were boarded and the white paint was blistered and peeled. Inside wasn't much better, the floor worn to mulch in places and water stains dripping down the walls.

 

"Budget cuts," Mitaka said to the camera with an apologetic smile. "Nobody respects science anymore."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Ren's new room was octagonal, with a long-abandoned fireplace against one wall and a bank of newspapered windows on another. On the slanted façade of the chimney was painted a mural of mystical creatures dancing, dressed in cream robes and holding colorful rods in claws and paws and hands. When Hux opened the door, Ren stood by the windows, peeking around the edges of the newspaper at the rolling yard beyond.

 

"I brought you a blanket," Hux said by way of explanation, standing stiffly near the door.

 

Ren glanced at him over his shoulder. "It has holes in it."

 

Hux bristled. "Considering I found it in a cupboard that likely hasn't been opened since Napoleon reigned, it's holding together remarkably well. If you don't want it, I'll burn it."

 

Ren's head turned further, dull papery light gleaming in his dark eyes. "I thought broken things were more beautiful."

 

Tension lines appeared in Hux's cheeks. "Do you want it or not?"

 

When Ren said nothing, Hux turned to leave, ratty blanket still looped over his arm. As he crossed the threshold into the hall, Ren spoke.

 

"Thank you."

 

Hux stared at him for a moment, then set the blanket down by the bare mattress.

 

"He's going to fix me," Ren said as Hux stood. "He promised."

 

Hux said nothing.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Ren didn't wince as the needle pressed into his skin, watching the clear liquid push slowly into his veins. A machine beeped and then another as a slack expression spread across his face.

 

"Good," Phasma said, withdrawing the needle. "That's a good lad."

 

"Look," Snoke said, holding the red kyber crystal up before a flickering candle. Ren's eyes snapped to the glow like a magnet. "Kylo, where is Ben?"

 

"Nowhere," Ren murmured in a sleepy drawl that wasn't quite slurred.

 

"Bring him here," Snoke said.

 

For a long moment Ren said nothing, head tilting slightly to the side as if he were about to nod off. The crimson light refracted through the crystal played across his face. Hux tightened the focus.

 

"He doesn't want to come," Ren eventually whispered.

 

"We're friends," Snoke purred. "We only want to help him."

 

"Come on, Kylo," Mitaka cajoled, leaning in. "Show us something worth our time."

 

Again, Ren sat silent. Slowly his eyes broke away from the shining crystal, staring across the table and into the black camera lens. His lips hung open ever so slightly, full and rosy in the dim light.

 

"Kylo," Snoke said in voice even lower than his usual, "if Ben won't come, we don't need you anymore. Is that what you want? Do you want to be alone?"

 

Ren's eyes went glossy, as if he hovered on the verge of tears. Suddenly Snoke brought his fist down on the table, shivering the candle and making Ren – and Hux – jump.

 

"Bring him here! Bring him here, now!"

 

As Snoke shouted a crack rang out and the bare electric bulb hovering over the table shattered, glass raining down in a clinking, glittering storm. Ren began to breathe heavily and Mitaka grinned, looking into the camera with wide eyes.

 

"Did you get it? Tell me you got it!"

 

"I got it," Hux muttered, turning the camera away.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"To the first step of many!" Mitaka called, raising his glass of buttery champagne. Phasma and Snoke shared his toast, Hux clinking his own glass only as an afterthought.

 

As the three researchers discussed the day's events, Hux peeled off, climbing the stairs to stand before the thick slotted door to Ren's room. After a moment, he lifted the flap and peered in.

 

Ren had peeled the newspaper away to reveal grimy glass, moonlight shining through and etching the room in silver. He stood before the windows, peering out. After a long moment, his hands came to the hem of his undershirt and pulled it up, the corded muscles of his back rippling. Soon after the shirt flopped to the floor, his trousers followed, and he stood naked. Even in silhouette, the silvery shadow of his form made Hux's heart pound.

 

Someone cleared their throat and Hux jerked back to find Phasma watching him.

 

"I was just—"

 

"I know what you were doing," she interrupted. "Get back downstairs. We have celebrating to do."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Without the newspaper, the room was considerably brighter, and when Hux pressed the camera lens to the slot in the door the morning light was sufficient to illuminate most of the room. Ren was in full view, fully clothed and kneeling in the center of the room. He had something in his hand and his arm moved in harsh, jerky motions.

 

"Mitaka," Hux called out.

 

Once Hux had moved away, Mitaka took his place at the slot, peering in for a moment before unlocking the door. Hux followed him in.

 

"Good God," Mitaka said, dropping to his knees at Ren's side, trying to snatch something from Ren's hand. "Kylo, you promised—"

 

Ren hit him, a solid jab to the nose that rocked Mitaka back on his heels and left a smear of crimson across the man's pasty face. The fingers of one of Ren's hands were red, and his scarred wrist was dripping blood. Hux dropped the camera and scrambled to stop him before he could jab the thing – a nail, crooked and black – back into his skin.

 

Before he knew what was happening, Hux was on his back, Ren on top of him. His black hair fell around Hux's head like a curtain and his eyes gleamed glassy and hard. In another instant Ren's lips were crushed against his, his bloody hand slithering between them to fumble at Hux's fly. Against Ren's heavy strength Hux could do little but struggle. He gasped as Ren's hand slid into his trousers and Ren's hot tongue forced its way into his mouth.

 

"Phasma!" Mitaka shouted. "Phasma!"

 

Slick with blood, Ren's hand moved easily over Hux's cock. Despite himself, Hux found himself stiffening. He shoved at Ren's shoulders with all of his strength. He could barely budge the man. Ren smiled into the kiss, nipping at his bottom lip.

 

Suddenly a strong arm seized Ren around the throat and yanked him backwards. Hux scrambled away, hands shaking as he shoved himself back into his trousers and did up the fly.

 

"Get out," Phasma snapped at him, wrestling a struggling Ren back, his face flaring an ugly red as she choked him.

 

Hux almost tumbled down the stairs, holding onto the railing at the bottom and struggling to catch his breath. From an adjacent room, Snoke rolled out, regarding him with his black shark eyes.

 

"He knows you're attracted to him," the professor said. "He's trying to unsettle you. Don't let him succeed."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Phasma gently inserted the needle under Ren's skin. A sketch of a pattern showed through the gauze wrapped around Ren's wrist – a rough arc perhaps, a hint of a cross.

 

"Find him," Snoke urged, holding the crystal up to the light. "Find Ben."

 

In a slow flutter, Ren's eyes shut. His breathing began to quicken, and after a moment two of Mitaka's machines beeped. Mitaka sat hunched, chewing on his knuckles.

 

"Too bright," Ren mumbled, head lolling on his shoulders.

 

"Phasma," Snoke hissed eagerly. "The lights."

 

With only the candlelight and the refracted glittering of the crystal to illuminate it, the room became both vast and close at once. Hux adjusted the camera. Ren's hand twitched, fingers splaying wide then relaxing.

 

"Ben," he whispered.

 

"Yes." Snoke sat forwards in his chair. "Find Ben. Bring him here. Bring him to us."

 

A deep furrow appeared between Ren's brows and his breathing accelerated even further, his broad chest heaving. "Don't."

 

"Don't what?" Mitaka asked.

 

"Don't," Ren repeated. "Scream. Screaming, they're screaming."

 

"Who's screaming?" Phasma asked.

 

"Everyone. The knives—" Ren cut himself off with a series of deep hard breaths. Snoke bared his teeth.

 

"Good," he purred, drawing a paring knife from a pocket. Hux looked at him. "Tell me about the knives."

 

"Dying," Ren grit through his teeth as Snoke gently ran the blade down his arm. "They're all. The knives—"

 

"Tell me, Ben," Snoke urged, pressing the knife in deeper.

 

"He's killing them!" Ren's hands curled into tight fists, his face contorted into a death-mask of fear and rage. "He's—"

 

Blood began to well under the blade and Hux surged forwards, slapping Snoke's hand aside. Ren's shout turned into a scream and he jerked away, falling out of his chair and scrambling to stand in a corner.

 

"What are you doing?" Snoke snapped.

 

"You cut him!" Hux snapped back.

 

"How dare you!" Snoke rose from his chair, standing on tottery legs as if fury was the only thing holding him up. "This is _my_ experiment! He was _here_!"

 

"Kylo," Phasma said gently, approaching the man cowering against the wall with her hands outstretched. "Let me see."

 

Hux grit his teeth.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"He needs stitches," Phasma said, washing blood off her hands. "We need to take him to a doctor."

 

"We are not abandoning the experiment now," Snoke snarled. "Do what you can."

 

"Then it's going to scar."

 

Snoke's disfigured lips curled. "He has plenty."

 

Hux slammed the door on his way out.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

He awoke to an unsettling feeling of being watched. The sagging door to his room was closed, the mouldering shades on his boarded-up windows shut. Hux found himself padding down the hallway towards Ren's room, feet creaking on the floorboards.

 

Ren was awake. He sat on his mattress, leaning against the wall and picking at the edges of his bandages.  After a long moment he looked up, meeting Hux's gaze through the slot. In the dark, it was impossible to tell, but Hux thought that, perhaps, he smiled.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Keep an eye on him," Phasma had told him, getting into Mitaka's car to fetch more medical supplies from town.

 

"I want to have a bath," Ren said after they were gone.

 

Cupping water in his big hands, Ren sluiced it over his hair until it clung to his head in a shiny black helmet. Somehow he looked bigger naked than he did clothed, knees pulled tight to his chest to fit in the comparatively tiny tub. Aside from the angry scabbed wounds on his arms, he was covered in a collection of tiny scratches and scars. Some, arranged in parallel lines down his thighs, were clearly deliberate. Others, like the long-healed gash in the center of his chest, were more ambiguous. If Ren minded Hux's inadvertent staring, he did nothing to stop it.

 

"Do you think he's real?" Ren asked suddenly, playing with a small sliver of soap. "Ben."

 

"I don't know," Hux replied. "I'm attempting to reserve judgement."

 

"Snoke thinks I made him up," Ren said. The soap flipped between his knuckles like a coin. "That I'm… 'personifying my illness'. If we get can get rid of him, I'll be cured."

 

Hux didn't reply. Ren took the soap in his palm, then closed his hand, crushing it into a crinkled mash and picking out the largest of the remaining pieces.

 

"We're the same age," he mused. "He even looks like me."

 

Again, Hux didn't reply. Ren scrubbed the soap into his hair and left it a frothy mess before bringing his feet up to the edge of the tub and leaning backwards until his head dipped under the rising water. Hux looked away, then back, at the pale flesh of Ren's inner thigh, the curving muscle of his calves, his long toes. When Ren popped back up, water streaming down his face, he caught Hux staring and smiled, a crooked slice of white.

 

"You think I'm pretty?"

 

A blush rose to Hux's cheeks and he found himself preoccupied with the papered-over windows. "Absolutely not."

 

"You think I'm pretty," Ren repeated. "No-one's ever thought that before."

 

Hux scoffed and glanced back. "I find that hard to…"

 

Ren had opened his legs, leaning back in the tub so the entirety of his long pale body was on display. The fingers of one of his big hands trailed down his chest, circling one dark nipple before sliding over his stomach. His cock lay in a nest of dark curls, thick and long and if Hux was not mistaken, more than a little hard.

 

"You treat me like a person," Ren said, fingers playing at the start of the trail leading down between his legs.

 

"Please stop," Hux murmured, looking away. Ren froze, thighs squeezing shut.

 

"Did I do something wrong?"

 

"No," Hux said, and then, "You don't have to stay here. You could go anywhere you want."

 

Ren sat up, curling back around his knees. "I promised Snoke. He'd be disappointed if I left."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

They gave Ren twice the dose. Snoke ordered all of them, Hux included, to sit around the table, holding hands as if they were teenagers performing a séance. The kyber crystal he let Ren hold, sitting in his palm like a glittering seed.

 

"Come to us, Ben," Snoke said, his hand laying up Ren's bandaged wrist. "Tell us about the knives."

 

"He doesn't want to," Ren almost slurred, tilting his palm so a different facet of the crystal sparked. The machines beeped.

 

"It's alright, Ben," Phasma said, squeezing his free hand. "We're friends. You don't have to be afraid."

 

Ren frowned, eyes almost shut. He began to breathe hard, air hissing through his strong nose. His grip on Phasma's hand tightened until her skin bleached and he curled his fingers over the crystal, knuckles white.

 

"Tell us, Ben," Snoke commanded, pressing his gnarled fingers down onto the dried blood prickling through Ren's bandages. "Tell us, or we'll leave. Then you'll be all alone. No-one will ever love you again. Not like we do."

 

Hux's grip tightened enough that both Phasma and Mitaka glanced at him, Mitaka wincing at the pressure. Ren let out a long low sound, somewhere between a hiss and a moan.

 

"Ben…"

 

"Yes," Snoke said, pressing his fingers in deeper. "Show us, Ben. Show us what you are."

 

Ren's mouth split in a wide grimace and his head fell back, chest heaving. "Please…"

 

"Show us, Ben. _Show us_."

 

Something thumped, somewhere above them. Mitaka jumped. Phasma squeezed Ren's hand.

 

"Hurts," Ren grit through his teeth. "Hurts, it hurts…"

 

Hux's hands tore free from Phasma and Mitaka's, but Phasma raised her palm, motioning for him to wait. The arm holding the crystal had begun to shake. Phasma reached across and took Mitaka's hand, Hux standing and watching as Ren began to curl forward, tendons standing out in his neck and arms.

 

"Ben!" he shouted, something like anger in his voice. "Stop it!"

 

"No, Ben," Snoke said. "Don't stop now.  You're so close."

 

"Stop it!" Ren shouted again. "What are you doing?! Stop!"

 

"Oh my God," Mitaka breathed, staring at Ren's shaking hand.

 

From between his fingers came a red glow, brightening until his bones showed dark through his flesh.

 

"He's killing them!" Ren shouted as smoke began to rise from his palm. "He's got the knives! He's killing them! Leia—"

 

Suddenly Ren's voice cracked and rose into a scream. He flew from his seat, tearing his hands from the grasps of Phasma and Snoke, palm opening to send the kyber crystal skittering across the table. Where the crystal had touched his palm stood thick blisters, skin as red as the crystal itself. He stared at it, eyes wide and utterly horrified.

 

"Who is Leia?" Snoke snapped, wheeling forward as Ren backed away, clawing at the sensors. The machines shrieked. "Ben! Who is Leia!"

 

Ren looked at him, then turned and fled.

 

Phasma shot after him, Mitaka and Hux close behind. She grabbed him before he could round the corner into the hall, dragging him back into the dining room. He fought her every step of the way and would have won had Mitaka not arrived just in time to receive a kick to his chest, knocking him back into one of his machines. Distracted, Ren allowed Phasma to get her arm around his throat.

 

"Ren!" Hux shouted, just before the world flipped upside down.

 

Hux's back hit the ceiling hard. Dust sprang up around him and cracks spider-webbed through the ancient plaster. Then he was falling again, along with the rest of the furniture in the room, hitting the rotting floor with similar force. Breath knocked from him, he struggled to rise.

 

Somehow, Phasma had managed to keep her grip around Ren's throat, and he went limp in her arms. Mitaka lay groaning, bleeding from a small cut on his forehead with a machine lying across his chest. Snoke had been thrown from his chair and crawled to it now, struggling to right it and pull himself up. All of them were covered in dust.

 

"The camera," Snoke hissed at Hux. "Check the camera."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"It's fine," Hux said, setting the battered camera down on the kitchen table. "We can't keep doing this."

 

Snoke glared at him. "If you interfere—"

 

"I agree with Hux," Phasma said. She had a bruise on one shoulder and scratch marks on her arms from Ren's clawing. "After that he deserves a break. We all do."

 

"Half our equipment is broken," Mitaka said, still pressing a bag of frozen peas to the wound on his forehead. "I can fix it, but it's going to take time."

 

"A day," Hux said, "and a full night's sleep. That's all I ask."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

For the first time in a week, Ren walked on grass and stood under a blue sky. As he settled onto the green yard tension boiled out of his shoulders like the white clouds scudding above. Hux stood beside him for a moment, then sat, cross-legged and awkward as he tried to keep the dirt off his trousers.  Ren watched him and smiled.

 

"I used to hate sunshine," he said, plucking at the grass and getting chlorophyll stains on his long fingers. "Too bright."

 

"What changed?" Hux asked.

 

"Nothing," Ren replied. "It's just better than the dark."

 

They sat together in silence for a long while. Ren's eyes followed Phasma, pacing the periphery of the sprawling yard. He folded the leaves of grass into balls and crushed them between his fingers.

 

"You don't talk like them," he said. "You try to, but you don't."

 

Hux glanced at him, then away. "You have a keen ear for an American."

 

"Why are you here?"

 

Considering for a moment, Hux sighed. "I need the money. Oxford isn't cheap."

 

"That's why you stayed?" Ren asked, flicking a balled-up bit of grass away. "Money?"

 

Hux looked at him. "That's why I came."

 

A hint of a smile played at Ren's lips and he looked down at his green fingers. "What are you studying?"

 

"Politics."

 

Ren shot him a glittering-eyed look. "You want to be a politician?"

 

"I want to be Prime Minister," Hux said, sitting back on his hands and shrugging. "What can I say. I'm an ambitious man."

 

Ren smiled, pushing one hand into his hair as if he were bashful. "I'd vote for you."

 

"Are you even old enough to vote?" Hux asked with a quirked brow.

 

"I'm twenty, you…" Ren's mouth worked as he tried to contain his grin. "Prick."

 

"Really? Because you look about four. A very well-developed four, but—"

 

Ren shoved him and Hux allowed himself to be bowled over, chuckling. A healthy glow had risen to Ren's cheeks and for the first time since Hux had met him he didn't look exhausted. Hux straightened and Ren shoved him again, then climbed on top of him.

 

"Ren," Hux said in an warning tone, glancing at Phasma, currently walking away from them but due to turn at any moment. Ren didn't look, keeping his eyes locked on Hux's.

 

"I don't care."

 

"She will," Hux replied, pressing on Ren's broad shoulders. "Snoke will."

 

At the mention of the professor's name, a dark cloud passed over Ren's face. He sat up, stood, stalked back towards the house. Hux propped himself up on his elbows and watched him go.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Find Ben," Snoke instructed. Ren sat with his eyes closed, red light playing across his face. "Bring him here."

 

"Ben doesn't want to come," Ren murmured.

 

"All is well," Snoke soothed, stroking Ren's injured wrist. "We're friends."

 

"No," Ren said. "You're not. You're liars."

 

Snoke scowled.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Mitaka stewed over his small glass of brandy. Phasma tossed hers back in one gulp. Hux took tiny sips, grimacing at the taste.

 

"I feel like we're living on a spaceship," Mitaka mused, staring out the window at the dark. "I can't remember the last time I read a newspaper. No telly, no radio. The world could have ended and we'd have no idea."

 

"The world hasn't ended," Phasma sighed.

 

"I need parts," Mitaka said, swirling his brandy in the bottom of his glass. "I need to talk to someone who isn't one of us. I need a proper bloody bath."

 

"We can go into town in the morning," Phasma said, pouring herself another finger. "It's not as if last time went well."

 

Suddenly, the lights blinked out. For a moment the kitchen was illuminated only by the trickles of pale moonlight coming through the windows. Then Hux managed to turn on the camera and the light attached to it, swinging it around as Snoke wheeled into the doorway.

 

"Check on Ren," the professor said darkly.

 

As they climbed the stairs, something thumped above them, one heavy bang followed by a quick succession of smaller ones like heavy running footsteps.

 

"The attic," Phasma said, quickening her pace.

 

In the yellowy light of the camera's bulb, the attic looked more like Hell, tall shadows of discarded furniture and piled boxes dancing on the sloping roof. The three of them slowed almost immediately. The floorboards were water-rotted and the atmosphere coldly oppressive, as if there were a monster growling just behind them.

 

"Kylo?" Phasma called out, stepping around a line of small toys eerily reminiscent of the mural on Ren's wall. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

 

Ren did not answer. They found him in the far end of the attic, in a small space of dusty floor. He was holding a toy sword in both hands, standing ready for combat and staring into the corner. He didn't move when they approached, breath coming quick and harsh through his nose.

 

"Kylo?" Phasma said as Hux shone the light on him. His eyes were glassy, though the drugs should have worn off by now. "Are you alright? What are you doing?"

 

"How did he get out of his room?" Mitaka asked.

 

"Kylo?" Phasma approached him, reaching out to lay her hand on his shoulder.

 

Suddenly the man moved, sending Phasma skittering back away from the sweep of the wooden sword. Ren didn't appear to be aiming for her, slashing at the air with broad, desperate strokes.

 

"I'm not yours!" he shouted at the shadows, shadows flaring behind him like a cape. "Get away from me!"

 

The sword whirled in his hands, blocking non-existent blows that pushed him back on his heels and striking in sweeping arcs that seemed to meet resistance mid-air. Phasma tried to approach again but the threat of the sword kept her at bay. Ren began to shout, wordless and angry. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum, face twisted in fury as he struck down one invisible foe after another.

 

"Ren!" Hux shouted.

 

Ren froze mid-twirl, staring at him with eyes so wide the irises formed perfect circles. Something seemed to strike him in the chest and he fell backwards, screaming. Yanking his shirt up he revealed a bleeding red mark, directly over his old scar. Some kind of curve beneath a cross.

 

"Hux!" Ren squawked, terror thick in his voice as he touched the wound with a shaking hand.

 

Hux shoved the camera into Phasma's arms and went to him, removing his own jacket to press it against the wound.

 

"Please tell me you got that on film," Mitaka said.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"We need to take him to a hospital," Phasma insisted in a firm, raised voice. "He needs to be treated, by a _real doctor_."

 

"This is your fault. One of you corrupted him," Snoke snapped, gesturing sharply to the bloody outline of Ren's wound on Hux's jacket. "This did not come from him. Which one of you has been filling his head with Jedi nonsense? Hux?"

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hux clipped, fingers digging into his crossed arms.

 

"Maybe it didn't come from him," Mitaka suggested, strung somewhere between terror and excitement. "Maybe there's something legitimately supernatural—"

 

"Don't be stupid," Snoke snarled. "One of you _told_ him."

 

"Regardless," Phasma said, raising her voice further. "We can't possibly continue."

 

Snoke yanked at the wheels on his chair, turning on her. "We are on the verge of finding a cure!"

 

"We're making him worse!" Phasma replied. "I won't be a part of this."

 

"Then leave," Snoke snapped.

 

"We shouldn't be too hasty," Mitaka said. "We're all losing our minds out here. Perhaps we could take a few more days, go to town—"

 

"Absolutely not."

 

"I need parts," Mitaka argued, holding his hands out placatingly. "Phasma and I can go to town, get what we need. Clear our heads. Give Kylo a chance to calm down. To heal. And then we can start again."

 

"Yes, let's keep torturing him," Hux barked. "Just stab a knife in his heart and be done with it."

 

"Why don't we ask him if he wants to continue?" Snoke said with a mangled sneer. "It's his life you want to throw away."

 

"Yes," Mitaka said. "Let's ask him. Make our decisions then. That seems reasonable."

 

They found Ren lying on his mattress, arms wrapped around his stomach. He sat up when they entered, obviously in pain but bearing it well. Mitaka approached him and crouched while Phasma and Hux lingered near the entrance, their arms folded over their chests.

 

"Hello, Kylo," Mitaka said in his slow condescending way. "May I ask you a question? Do you _want_ to continue our little experiment? Or would you rather stop?"

 

Ren's eyes flicked up to Hux's. They were clear now, dark circles back under his eyes and a crease between his brows. Hux shook his head and Ren looked away.

 

"I want to get better."

 

"There you have it," Mitaka said, springing to his feet as if that were exactly the answer he wanted.

 

Hux left his spot by the door and came to kneel beside Ren, his hand on Ren's knee. "This isn't making you better."

 

Ren's jaw clenched. "I promised Snoke I'd let him try."

 

"He's tried," Hux snapped. "He failed."

 

Hurt bloomed in Ren's dark eyes and he turned his head, staring down at his own feet. Hux drew back and Mitaka put a hand on his shoulder.

 

"He's made his decision," he said. "He wants to continue. We have to respect that."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Come with us," Mitaka said as Phasma loaded the broken equipment into the boot of his car. "You need as much a break as we do."

 

Hux leveled him with an even, steely-eyed glare. "No thank you. I'm not leaving them alone."

 

Mitaka sighed. "Fair enough."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Having received the key from Mitaka, Hux let Ren out of his room, allowing him to wander the upper floors freely. Ren explored the dilapidated rooms, pausing momentarily in Phasma's room before stopping altogether in Hux's, staring down at the crooked bedframe and the ratty mattress on which Hux had been sleeping.

 

"You're mad at me," he said without turning to face Hux, still lingering by the door.

 

Lines appeared in Hux's cheeks. "I'm not angry."

 

"You want me to leave."

 

"I want you to be safe."

 

Ren paused for a long moment. "Have you ever heard your name, but it didn't feel like yours? Seen a picture of yourself but not recognized your face? I've felt like that my entire life."

 

He turned and reached out, hooking the tips of his fingers around Hux's. "I never felt like myself until I came here. It can still work. I can still get better."

 

When Hux didn't respond, Ren leaned in close, pressing his forehead to Hux's. "Don't give up on me. Don't give up on Snoke. Please."

 

Hux took a breath. Laced his fingers between Ren's. Ren pressed a kiss to the bridge of his narrow nose, then his lips, long and slow.

 

"I won't," Hux said, breathing into Ren's lips.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Hux stared at the negatives. When he held the frame up to the light, he could see the shadow of the mark on Ren's stomach. The arc looked almost like a pair of wings.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Ren," Hux said, coming into Ren's room as he slung the empty duffle bag he used to carry his film over his shoulder. "I have to go. I'll be back before dark, I promise. There's something I have to do. Stay upstairs."

 

Ren looked at him, but said nothing.

 

He ran into Snoke on the way out. By coincidence, or perhaps by design, Snoke's chair blocked his way out.

 

"Where are _you_ going?" Snoke asked in his rumbling voice.

 

"Checked the stock," Hux said, adjusting the strap of the duffle bag. "Damp got to it. I have to get more."

 

"Do you."

 

"I wouldn't have to if you had sprung for a half-decent house."

 

Snoke's eyes narrowed. Then his face twisted, lips curling up into a facsimile of a smile. "Very well. Take your time."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

The bus got him back to Oxford by mid-day. He walked quickly through the library, eyes ahead and grip tight on the strap of the duffle bag.

 

"Hey," someone said as he passed. "Hey, you're one of Snoke's, aren't you?"

 

Hux ignored the dark-haired man now following in his footsteps. There was something familiar about him, but Hux couldn't place him, not until he spoke again.

 

"I heard about what you're doing," Dameron said, stepping around into his path. His handsome face was tight and angry, his eyes flashing. "Killing a man is a wonderful way to make a ghost."

 

Hux pushed past him. Dameron didn't follow.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

_Jedi nonsense_.

 

Books. Newspapers. A curving pair of wings below a star stretched like a sword.

 

Hux stared at the page, then in one smooth motion tore it out.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"He tried to kill me!" Mitaka's voice squealed from within the broken-down old house. "Straight razor flew across the room, almost slit my throat! Look! Look! I could have died!"

 

Hux slammed the door so hard the building shook. The three researchers looked up. Mitaka had a long thin cut along the side of his neck.

 

"I know who he is."

 

"What?" Phasma asked, frowning.

 

Hux reached into his duffle bag and pulled out the torn page, throwing it on the dining room table. A black-haired, sullen-eyed boy stared out of the photograph, thin and angry. "Benjamin Solo. His family was part of a cult that pre-dates every modern religion. They believed a child would be born to 'bring balance to the Force', end all war, all conflict. They thought Ben was that child. Trained him in telekinesis, taught him to fight, to _kill_. And one day he did. He killed them all. Cut them apart with _knives_."

 

"Holy…" Mitaka murmured, pulling the photo over to stare into the child's dark eyes. "He looks like Kylo."

 

"He killed himself," Hux said, taking the photo back and fixing Snoke with a hard glare. "You knew, didn't you? You knew who Ben was the entire time."

 

Snoke stared at him with narrowed eyes. "Which dead child Kylo choses to fixate on changes nothing. It is still a manifestation—"

 

"Force ghosts!" Hux snapped. "Telekinesis, mind reading! It all comes together."

 

"As Frankenstein comes with electricity?" Snoke sneered. "Leave the science to your betters, _camera-man_."

 

"What if it is real?" Mitaka asked, voice high and tight. "What if—"

 

"Silence!" Snoke boomed. Mitaka immediately bowed his head, cowed. "I will tolerate no more of this superstitious idiocy. None of you will mention Benjamin Solo or the Jedi Order again. And you." Snoke raised one gnarled finger, coming within an inch of pushing it into Hux's chest. "You will be gone by nightfall. You have interfered for the last time."

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

"Mitaka," Hux said when they were alone. "I need your car."

 

Mitaka swallowed, but nodded.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Hux parked the car directly in front of the door. The sun disappeared behind the trees and the world plunged into an uneasy dark. Up the stairs, get Ren, come back down, drive as far away as the road went. Easy enough.

 

As he strode through the entryway, a sound like a low hum made him pause. Against his better judgement, Hux followed it through the dining room and into the side room Snoke had chosen for his own. For the first time, the door hung open. Snoke was not inside. The sound had faded, whatever it was.

 

Hux was turning to leave when he saw the notebook, lying open on the rickety desk.

 

_Manifestations continue to escalate,_ it read in Snoke's sharp looping handwriting. _Subject increasingly distressed. No obvious triggers or methods of control. 'Ben' identity continues to exercise control. Without sublimation of 'Ben' no useful application of abilities possible. Manifestations have proved interesting, promising both commercial and military applications if properly—_

 

"You _son of a whore_!" Hux shouted, tearing back through the house to the kitchen where the researchers sat. The notebook slammed down on the kitchen table as if it were a tome ten times its size. "You never wanted to cure him, did you? You just wanted to _use_ him!"

 

"Get out," Snoke said calmly. Hux grabbed a handful of his loose shirt, almost yanking him out of the chair. Phasma surged to her feet.

 

"You _disgust_ me," Hux spit.

 

Snoke's fingers dug into the tendons of his wrist and forced his hand open. His nails were like claws in Hux's flesh. "Pathetic sentimental fool. I have seen what power like his can accomplish. What is the suffering of one degenerate against the world?"

 

Hux ripped his hand away. Snoke's nails left red marks down his hand. Suddenly Mitaka stood.

 

"Kylo!"

 

Hux turned. There he stood, staring at Snoke with a dangerous intensity, as if he could light Snoke on fire with a glare.

 

"You promised," Ren said in a low, angry voice. "You said you would _fix_ me."

 

If the rage simmering off Ren gave Snoke pause, he didn't show it. "Once you have control of your powers—"

 

Ren surged forward, knocking Hux out of the way to wrap his hand around Snoke's throat and lift him from his chair one handed, suspending the frail man in the air. Snoke's hands clawed at Ren's arm, tearing off the bandages and revealing the Jedi sigil carved into his wrist.

 

"Kylo!" Phasma shouted, running towards him.

 

Hux stood in her way. She shoved him out of the way with ease, but not before Ren had tossed Snoke back into the wall, leaving a dent where Snoke's back hit the plaster. Ren picked up the wheelchair and smashed it against the doorframe. Metal bent and wood cracked. Phasma hopped over the kitchen table to kneel at Snoke's side.  Again and again Ren bashed the chair, until it was a mangled wreck and the doorframe bristled with splinters. With one final heave, he threw it past Mitaka's head and stalked out of the room. A few moments later, further sounds of destruction echoed from the dining room as chair after chair turned to kindling in Ren's hands.

 

"I'm fine," Snoke snapped, shoving Phasma away. Hux stared at him.

 

"You're a monster."

 

Suddenly the sound of smashing wood stopped. Looking across the entryway, Hux saw Kylo through the open dining room door, the back of a chair divested of all but one of its legs held above his head. He was looking down at the photograph.

 

Hux carefully crossed the room and came to stand at Ren's side. Phasma and Mitaka followed, Mitaka regarding Ren warily and dawdling near the door.

 

"Ren?" Hux said quietly, reaching out to put his hand on the man's shoulder before thinking better of it.

 

"They changed his name," Ren said in a dull monotone. "Told everyone he was dead so no-one would look for him. Gave him away. They wanted him to be… normal."

 

"Kylo…" Phasma said. Ren looked up at her.

 

"That isn't my name."

 

In the kitchen, Snoke screamed. Phasma turned to go to him, then fell to her knees, clutching at her stomach and roaring in blistering pain. Mitaka came next, shrieking and clawing his sleeve up to reveal curved wings and a star burnt into his arm.

 

"Ren!" Hux said, an instant before searing agony ripped through him. Buttons popped as he tore his shirt away from his shoulder, staggering back against the wall. The sigil burnt into his skin bubbled.

 

Mitaka fled. Phasma called after him, lurching to her feet. Mitaka screamed again, calling for help, and a heavy thump rattled dust from the ceiling. Phasma disappeared around the corner and up the stairs, her footsteps thudding heavily on the rotting wood. Something cracked and Phasma yelled.

 

Ren stood still, staring into the middle distance with a blank, sightless expression. Hux left him and threw himself up the stairs. Mitaka was still wailing. Hux ran down the hallway towards the ladder up to the attic. Phasma was on the ground, still and bleeding from a long gash in her head. Mitaka was on the ladder, upside down and clinging to the rungs as if something was dragging him up into the dark.

 

"Help me!" Mitaka cried, reaching out for Hux. Hux took his hand, braced his feet against the bottom of the ladder and pulled. Mitaka slid forward, then flew back, hand wrenched from Hux's grasp. The shadows of the attic consumed him and the ladder snapped up, ceiling hatch shutting like a hungry mouth.

 

Breathing hard, Hux paused. _Ren_.

 

Ren was as Hux had left him, but for the kyber crystal now floating before him, in the exact spot where his eyes had previously been focused. It glowed a furious red, beams of light raking across the walls, ceiling, floor. When one slashed across Hux, it left a stinging burn. Hux pressed forward anyway, grabbing Ren by the arms.

 

"Ren!" he shouted. Trying to shake him was like trying to move a building. "Look at me! Ren!"

 

Slowly, Ren's eyes slid away from the crystal and met Hux's. Just as Hux felt a twinge of relief, Ren's hand came up. He didn't touch Hux, but pressure crushed around his throat all the same, pushing him backwards and up. His feet left the ground. He clawed at his own throat, struggling to breathe, as his face flared choked red. Tears prickled in his eyes as static began to dance.

 

Snoke stabbed the needle deep into Ren's throat. In a heartbeat, Ren went down. Hux's knees cracked against the floorboards and he coughed, gasping for air.

 

"Ren," Hux choked, crawling to the fallen man's side. Snoke, standing on shaky legs, picked up a chair leg. "What did you—"

 

The chair leg smashed into Hux's skull and everything went dark.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

Hux woke tied to the last remaining dining chair. His head lolled on his shoulders, and it was a moment before he realized what was happening.

 

"All attempts," Snoke huffed, arranging Ren's limp body on the floor of the mouldering living room, "at control have failed. More extreme measures… must be taken."

 

He'd placed the camera on a sofa, old books underneath it to angle it towards the floor and the man lying upon it. He spoke to the lens as he stood and tottered over to the side table and the arrangement of needles and vials upon it.

 

"An… overdose of Siproxen… will cause physical death," Snoke said, picking up one of the needles and hobbling back to Ren's side. "At which point… the weaker of the two… personas, will be destroyed."

 

"Snoke?" Hux slurred. "What are you…?"

 

Snoke pushed the needle into Ren's throat. Almost immediately, Ren's body spasmed. The machines Snoke had somehow managed to hook him up to shrieked.

 

"Snoke!" Hux tore at his bindings, eyes wide and heart pounding. "What are you doing?! You killed him!"

 

"I can bring him back," Snoke breathed, pointing to the long needle remaining on the side table. "A shot of adrenaline… Directly to the heart."

 

"Then do it!" Hux shouted. "Give him the shot!"

 

"Not yet," Snoke replied, staring at the plummeting numbers on the machines.

 

"Give him the fucking shot!" The beeping was beginning to blur together into one long whine. Hux fought hard against his bindings, but the electrical cord Snoke had used held tight. "Snoke! Give him the fucking shot!"

 

Snoke said nothing, did nothing. Hux rocked his chair and tipped over. The ancient, rotted wood shattered and he struggled free. Snatching the adrenaline shot, Hux turned to find Snoke standing, shoving him hard. Hux fell, scrambled up Ren's still body. His skin was already getting cold. Before he could jab the needle into Ren's chest, Snoke hit him again, knocking him to the side.

 

Hux jumped him. Wrapped his hands around the man's narrow throat. Pinned him to the floor and bashed his head against the rotting boards again and again and again until Snoke lay still. Then he retrieved the needle and plunged it into Ren's heart.

 

Nothing happened.

 

"Please," Hux gasped. "Please, please, please…"

 

Ren took a breath.

 

Tears sprung into Hux's eyes. He pressed his forehead to Ren's, feeling Ren's breath ghost on his lips, his skin beginning to warm again.

 

"Thank you," he whispered.

 

"Hux?" Ren groaned.

 

"Ren," Hux breathed, halfway to a desperate laugh. He cupped Ren's face in his hands and kissed him, over and over. "You're alright. You're going to be alright."

 

Slowly, Ren's head turned to face the unconscious man beside him. Hux tried to turn his face away, to kiss him again, but Ren wouldn't have it.

 

"He doesn't matter," Hux said, running his hand through Ren's hair. "Let's go, let's just go."

 

Ren put his hand against Hux's chest. A force that had nothing to do with muscle pushed Hux upright, onto his feet, and then backwards towards the door. Ren slowly sat up, staring at Snoke all the while.

 

"Ren!" Hux shouted, fighting against the invisible push. "Don't do this. Let's just go. Please, let's just leave, Ren—"

 

A knife flew past his head and into Ren's hand. Then the door slammed and the force let him go.

 

"Ren!" Hux through himself against the door. It barely budged. "Ren! Open the door! Ren, please, open the fucking door! Ren!"

 

Ren didn't answer. Hux battered his shoulder against the door again and again, cursing, calling Ren's name. With a grinding crack, the old wood gave way and Hux stumbled back inside.

 

Snoke was in pieces. Blood covered Ren's hands, dripping from his fingers, the tip of the knife. He had it turned around in his hands, pointing towards his chest.

 

" _NO!_ "

 

Hux slid to his knees, one hand grabbing Ren's wrist and the other the blade. Bloody metal bit deep into his palm, but it stopped before it could pierce Ren's skin. Ren stared at him, silent tears running down his face.

 

"No," Hux gasped. "Don't, please don't."

 

"I deserve it," Ren said.

 

"No, you don't."

 

"I killed him," Ren looked past Hux to Snoke's body. "I killed them all. The children—"

 

"I don't care," Hux said, shifting to block Ren's view. "Ren, I couldn't give less of a damn."

 

"I'm broken." Ren's voice cracked.

 

"You're beautiful," Hux replied. Again he pressed his forehead to Ren's. "I'm not giving up on you. I promised."

 

Heaving a deep breath, Ren began to sob. The knife clattered to the floor.

 

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

\--- --- --- --- --- ---

 

**September**

\---

_SEARCH FOR ESCAPED MENTAL PATIENT CALLED OFF._

_After two months, the search for escaped mental patient Kylo Ren has officially halted. "We're certainly on the look-out," said Oxford Police spokesperson Anthony Cepo, "but continuing to comb the woods would be an absolutely horrendous misapplication of resources."_ _Ren is implicated in the gruesome murders of Professor Joseph Snoke and his research assistant Dopheld Mitaka, along with the disappearance of cameraman Brendol Hux Jr. While authorities initially believed Hux was being held hostage, testimony from survivor Christine Phasma indicates Hux may have been involved—_

 

The newspaper crinkled as Ren's pale finger pulled it down. He looked over the print, full lips turned in a lopsided smirk.

 

"How many times have you read that now? Twenty?"

 

"Four," Hux huffed and edged over to allow Ren to perch on the boulder beside him. "I thought Phasma was better than this."

 

"What's she supposed to say?" Ren asked, bringing one leg up to hug against his chest.

 

"The truth."

 

"They'd throw her in the loony bin," Ren said, playing with a pebble he'd picked up. "You could have left the film."

 

"So someone can try and replicate Snoke's results?" Hux scoffed. "No. It's better off burnt."

 

They sat together for a while, staring out over the vast, scrubby landscape. After the tight streets and tamed farmland of England, the wilderness of Australia seemed infinite, flat land stretching to every horizon and the sky a dome of perfect blue above. They could turn off the road and drive in any direction forever, until the sun boiled away and they could spend the rest of eternity in starlight.

 

"I want to show you something," Ren said, holding out his hand for the newspaper. Shooting him a bemused glance, Hux gave it to him.

 

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the paper rose to float above Ren's palm and began to spin and twist and fold, until a perfect newspaper hat hovered between them.

 

"You're getting better," Hux laughed as Ren plucked it from the air and placed it on his head.

 

"You should wear more hats," Ren said with a grin. "They suit you."

 

Hux smiled back. "I'll take that under advisement."

 

A tiny sound made them turn. A girl on a bicycle stood on the edge of the road, staring at Ren with wide dark eyes. She couldn't have been much older than ten.

 

"Um…" Hux said, taking off the paper hat. "Hello. Where did you come from?"

 

She didn't even glance at him. "You made it fold on its own."

 

Ren flushed and hunched his shoulders. "I don't know what you're—"

 

The bike clattered to the dirt as the girl hopped off, holding out her hand palm-down. Her face screwed up in furious concentration. Ren sat back, watching.

 

Slowly, a handful of pebbles began to rise from the ground, spiralling upwards in a backwards rain of tiny stones. The girl let out a massive breath and the stones fell back down. Ren's lips fell open.

 

"I thought I was the only one," the little girl said.

 

Ren stared at her in much the same way she stared at him, with a kind of quiet, disbelieving awe. "So did I."

 

Hux took his hand.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. If you want to hang out on Tumblr, my username is squintlysays!


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